Thank
you for contacting the National Geographic Society regarding last week’s
performance of Jim Lehrer’s “Bell.”

National
Geographic is fully aware of the fact that many members of the Deaf community do
not hold Bell in high regard. Instead of avoiding this issue, we chose to
address it in the play, and also during a post-performance panel. Dr. Brian
Greenwald of Gallaudet University, an expert on deaf culture and history, who
is also completing a biography about Bell and the deaf community was a member
of the panel. He mentioned Bell's evolving views on this issue. Whatever
Alexander Graham Bell's early views on deafness, please know that National
Geographic fully appreciates a supports a culturally diverse world.

Thank
you for sharing your thoughts.

Sincerely
yours,

Julie
Crain

National
Geographic Society

-->

rescor@ngs.org-----------------------AFA's original letter to the National Geographic Society

18 September 2013

John M. Fahey, Jr.,

President/ CEO

National Geographic Society

1145 17th Street N.W.

Washington DC 20036-4688

Dear Mr. Fahey,

This letter serves to express serious concerns related to how your organization “reflects the world” through the National Geographic Live: BELL! play.

The world of the play BELL! ignores the grave injustices that Alexander Graham Bell has fostered upon Deaf people. It ignores his systematic attempts to deny Deaf children sign language and efforts to “teach” Deaf people “to forget they are Deaf.” It is acknowledged that AG Bell was the Chief architect and advocate of the oral/aural only method of educating Deaf students in the United States, and

Today, we know that pure oralism--the denial of a fully accessible visual language—leads to language and cognitive deprivation as well as lags in social-emotional and identity development. In practice, many oral/aural only programs have resorted to physical and emotional abuse to stop Deaf children from using sign language or gestures.

In his ‘love for the Deaf,” AG Bell consistently refused to work with our organizations when they reached out to him. As ex-President of the National Association of the Deaf, George Veditz wrote in AG Bell’s obituary (1922):

“ It was not so much the education of the deaf, per se that Dr. Bell was interested in as the oral method…The deaf as a class have had little cause to love him because of the nature of his interference in their affairs… Dr. Bell’s influence upon the American deaf has been negative. They would have welcomed him with open arms and gloried in his interest in them had this interest been expressed in a manner they could approve. He did not choose this last.‘Tis true, ’tis pity; Pity ’tis, ’tis true.”

As a grassroots Deaf social justice network, Audism Free America (AFA) works to challenge the ideological foundations of audism in America---foundations that were put into place by Alexander Graham Bell. Audism is attitudes and practices based on the assumption that behaving in the ways of those who speak and hear is desired and best. It produces a system of privilege, thus resulting in stigma, bias, discrimination, and prejudice—in overt or covert ways—against Deaf culture, American Sign Language, and Deaf people of all walks of life.Sadly, one of the legacies of AG Bell, which still “shapes the world we live in today,” is audism.

Furthermore, it is appalling to learn the Deaf people today are still expected to passively accept the sanitized version of “AG Bell the genius inventor” (and what of the plagiarism and forgery charges?) celebrated by the play, BELL! The efforts on the part of your organization to promote the play to Gallaudet University students is a shameless attempt to eradicate the true history of AG Bell and to minimize the detrimental role he has played in the education of Deaf people. Are the students to forget that in 1891 during a congressional committee hearing concerning appropriation for the college, AG Bell criticized the training Deaf teachers as “detrimental?” Are they to forget he said when addressing Gallaudet students in the past, “…I am sure there is no one among the deaf who desires to have his affliction handed down to his children?”

Your organization professes to “promote the conservation of the world's cultural, historical, and natural resources” and to “care about the planet.” Does the National Geographic Society today, unlike its second president, care about and appreciate the natural human biodiversity represented by Deaf individuals globally? We call on you to celebrate your 125 years by making a public statement to Gallaudet students as well as Deaf people worldwide that the National Geographic Society acknowledges the harmful history of AG Bell and today embraces the human, linguistic, economic and civil rights of all peoples—including Deaf people.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

We are contacting you because it has come to our attention that the
National Geographic Society’s play, BELL! has been promoted by Gallaudet
University and students have been informed of discounted tickets for this
event. Perhaps in celebrating Gallaudet’s sesquicentennial there has been a
lapse in institutional memory.

In 1891 during a Congressional
committee hearing concerning appropriation for a request to establish a teacher
training program at your college, AG Bell said:“The employment of deaf teachers is absolutely detrimental
to oral instruction, and the training school proposed by President Gallaudet
should therefore not be supported by the United States….we cannot trust it to
train teachers…”

When AG Bell addressed the
Literary Society at the college he said, “…I
am sure there is no one among the deaf who desires to have his affliction
handed down to his children.”These
words of such an influential person certainly impacted how Deaf college
students and organizations viewed their own future and community.

The world of the play BELL! ignores these and other grave injustices
that Alexander Graham Bell has fostered upon Deaf people.It ignores his systematic attempts to
deny Deaf children sign language and efforts to “teach” Deaf people “to forget
they are Deaf.”It ignores his
work to abolish Deaf publications, organizations, conventions and schools.It is a tragic legacy of the
father of audism which still “shapes the world we live in today” and which many
of your students still experience.

It is appalling to imagine that Deaf
college students today are expected to passively accept the sanitized version
of “AG Bell the genius inventor” (and what of the plagiarism and forgery
charges?) celebrated by the play, BELL!This appears to be a shameless attempt to eradicate the true history of
AG Bell and to minimize the detrimental role he has played in the education of Deaf
people.

As an educational institution of higher learning, it is your
responsibility to educate your students. Promoting the play without first
hosting a forum to educate students about AG Bellsends the wrong message—both to your students and people beyond
Gallaudet.

Unfortunately,
the deadlock between your venerable President of 50 years, Dr. Edward Miner
Gallaudet and AG Bell did not end with their fight over the establishment of a teacher-training
program.It simply went national,
and reverberates even today as your students sit and watch BELL! ignorant of
how this man impacted their college, their history, and their lives.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

This letter serves to express serious concerns related to how your
organization “reflects the world” through the National Geographic Live: BELL!
play.

The world of the play BELL! ignores the grave injustices that Alexander
Graham Bell has fostered upon Deaf people.It ignores his systematic attempts to deny Deaf children
sign language and efforts to “teach” Deaf people “to forget they are
Deaf.”It is acknowledged that AG
Bell was the Chief architect and advocate of the oral/aural only method of
educating Deaf students in the United States, and

Today, we know that pure oralism--the denial of a fully accessible
visual language—leads to language and cognitive deprivation as well as lags in
social-emotional and identity development.In practice, many oral/aural only programs have resorted to
physical and emotional abuse to stop Deaf children from using sign language or
gestures.

In his ‘love for the Deaf,” AG Bell consistently refused to work with
our organizations when they reached out to him.As ex-President of the National Association of the Deaf,
George Veditz wrote in AG Bell’s obituary (1922):

“ It was not
so much the education of the deaf, per se that Dr. Bell was interested in as
the oral method…The deaf as a class have had little cause to love him because
of the nature of his interference in their affairs… Dr. Bell’s influence upon
the American deaf has been negative. They would have welcomed him with open
arms and gloried in his interest in them had this interest been expressed in a
manner they could approve. He did not choose this last.‘Tis true, ’tis pity;
Pity ’tis, ’tis true.”

As
a grassroots Deaf social justice network, Audism Free America (AFA) works to
challenge the ideological foundations of audism in America---foundations that
were put into place by Alexander Graham Bell.Audism is attitudes and
practices based on the assumption that behaving in the ways of those who speak
and hear is desired and best. It produces a system of privilege, thus resulting
in stigma, bias, discrimination, and prejudice—in overt or covert ways—against
Deaf culture, American Sign Language, and Deaf people of all walks of life.Sadly,
one of the legacies of AG Bell, which still “shapes the world we live in
today,” is audism.

Furthermore,
it is appalling to learn the Deaf people today are still expected to passively
accept the sanitized version of “AG Bell the genius inventor” (and what of the
plagiarism and forgery charges?) celebrated by the play, BELL!The efforts on the part of your
organization to promote the play to Gallaudet University students is a
shameless attempt to eradicate the true history of AG Bell and to minimize the
detrimental role he has played in the education of Deaf people.Are the students to forget that in 1891
during a congressional committee hearing concerning appropriation for the
college, AG Bell criticized the training Deaf teachers as “detrimental?”Are they to forget he said when
addressing Gallaudet students in the past, “…I am sure there is no one among the deaf who desires to have his
affliction handed down to his children?”

Your organization professes to “promote the conservation of the world's
cultural, historical, and natural resources” and to “care about the
planet.”Does the National
Geographic Society today, unlike its second president, care about and
appreciate the natural human biodiversity represented by Deaf individuals
globally?We call on you to celebrate
your 125 years by making a public statement to Gallaudet students as well as
Deaf people worldwide that the National Geographic Society acknowledges the
harmful history of AG Bell and today embraces the human, linguistic, economic
and civil rights of all peoples—including Deaf people.

LINKS

About Me

Questions/Comments-
Email to AudismFreeAmerica@gmail.com
Audism Free America (AFA) is a grassroots Deaf activist organization in the US, which advocates for Deaf American rights, cultural resurgence, and seeks primarily to challenge the ideological foundations of audism in America.
Audism is attitudes and practices based on the assumption that behaving in the ways of those who speak and hear is desired and best. It produces a system of privilege, thus resulting in stigma, bias, discrimination, and prejudice—in overt or covert ways—against Deaf culture, American Sign Language, and Deaf people of all walks of life.
AFA is committed to:
1. human and linguistic rights of Deaf people
2. unmasking audism and media misrepresentation
3. advocating for future generations